1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color reproduction sharing method for sharing a color reproduction by a plurality of color image output devices for a single color image input device, and a computer-readable program for carrying out such a color reproduction sharing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been known in the art to convert RGB output data from a device-dependent color image input device, e.g., a digital camera, into device-independent calorimetric values with an input profile, thereafter convert the calorimetric values into CMYK input data with an output profile, and supply the CMYK input data to a device-dependent color image output device, e.g., a printer, for thereby sharing a color reproduction by the digital camera and the printer, i.e., matching the colors of the data handled by the digital camera and the printer (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-335415).
Generally, a profile produced by combining the input profile and the output profile with each other is referred to as a DLP (Device Link Profile).
If the color reproduction of the digital camera is to be performed by another printer than the printer referred to above, then it is necessary to generate an output profile for the other printer, i.e., an output profile for converting device-independent colors into device-dependent colors.
The generation of such an output profile requires a number of color patches to be output and measured for their respective colors by a calorimeter. The measurement of the colors of the color patches with the colorimeter is highly tedious and time-consuming. In addition, it is difficult for general users to own the colorimeter because the colorimeter is highly expensive.
The output profile is a table for converting 3D (three-dimensional) calorimetric values such as XYZ data into 4D (four-dimensional) calorimetric values such as CMYK data. In order to generate the output profile, therefore, computations for volume interpolation are required, and a lot of time is needed to perform such computations.